Sunday, July 30, 2006

a Little Movie Called Word Play

My desktop calendar is the New York Times crossword from 2005. Every day it is the same day as last year's crossword puzzle. Generally the Mondays I can do and by Saturdays I say, screw it. I enjoy crosswords. I enjoy figuring out puzzles. I enjoy the thrill of discovering a word I didn't even know I knew because the letters come together.

Last night some good friends of ours and my husband and I went to see Word Play which was a fantastic movie. It followed the crossword lives of a few people who apparently compete every year in a crossword tournament. Can you imagine? A crossword tournament? In Stamford, Connecticut. They get together at the Marriott and have been doing so since 1978. They do crosswords. The announcer says this is a 15 minute crossword and however many minutes under the time of 15 you get your crossword in you get extra points. You lose points for blank spaces and errors. They were so keyed up. They were into it. It was like watching any exciting sports event. Throughout the theatre you could hear people answering clues because throughout the movie they would intersperse crossword puzzles. My husband said busstop, ah very clever, to the answer to a clue. I laughed and laughed

Who knew there was this society of crossword puzzlers, constructors, editors who all hang out in Connecticut? Who knew that the winner of the 199... tournament also twirled baton...well I do now because apparently not only do they do crosswords, they have a talent show. It is a fun movie, it is a smart movie and I highly recommend it.

The annual tournament is during my spring break in March. What are the odds they have two hour puzzles?

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